Be self-aware
What actions can you take to really understand your interests, values, skills, personality, and strengths.

In the area of self-awareness, as I am 47 years old, I am content in knowing what interests me, my values, and my personality. However, to ensure I don’t lose sight of these things and remain to true to my values, I will undertake self-reflection in the form of a daily journal. My main area of self-awareness will be in the areas of skills and strengths. Although I have a vast work experience, I am untested in this specific area, so I am quite uncertain of what my skills and strengths are in this area of work.

To help identify my skills and strengths I will seek out and complete career aptitude tests, with the intention of not only finding my strengths, but also identifying my weaknesses so I can develop them into strength. I will also seek feedback from tutors and PASS leaders during my university studies, as well as mentors and colleagues when I undertake industry internship/volunteering opportunities.

Overall, self-awareness is a continuous process of reflection, exploration, and growth.

Explore your options
What do you need to research to be clear about your options. What could you do to learn more about career options in your areas of interest.

I have an idea of the overall concept of marketing; however, I don’t have a thorough understanding of the different specialised fields and what each one of these specialised fields encompasses or what is required to achieve that career.

To remedy this, the first step I will take is to research what these fields of marketing are. Once I have that information, I will find at least three professionals who have had success in each of the fields and research what qualifications they have as well as their experience and how they progressed their career. The idea of finding at least three professionals is to compare them and see if there are any patterns or similarities in their qualifications and how they have built their careers, which I could then ensure I pursue in my own career.

Gain experience and insight
What actions could you take to help you learn more about your industry or find opportunities to develop your skills or find work experience opportunities.

Once I understand the different specialisations in the field of marketing, I would reach out to professionals in each field to gain an insight into what the day-to-day work is like. The questions I would ask would include what an average day looks like, what they like about the work they do as well as what they find challenging. This will allow me to get a fuller picture of what working in each field would be like, providing me the information needed to make an informed decision about which direction I would like to move in.

Once I have gained this insight, I would list them in order of priority from the area I am most interested in pursuing to least. I would then start at the top of the list and search online job boards and company websites to see if there are any internship or cadetship opportunities. If I’m not able to find anything advertised online, I will contact the companies directly, starting with an email followed up by a phone call.

To get a well-rounded picture, I would try to gain experience with two or three different organisations.

Evidence your skills
What action can you take to find out more about what skills you might need to develop in your future.

Talking to people in the industry will also provide me with insights into the software they use. In knowing what software is used to be successful in the job I will be able to identify if I need to undertake any training.

As part of exploring my career options, I will have investigated leaders in the field of marketing and seen what qualifications leaders they have. To ensure I work towards these qualifications I will create a to-do list of them. I will prioritise this list from what is the most important for me to gain to the least. As I continue to gain experience, expertise and connect with people in the industry, I will revise this list by adding to it, removing qualifications that are no longer relevant or have become obsolete and re-prioritising the list as my career goal becomes more focussed. To successfully achieve a goal, it needs to be broken down into smaller steps. This to-do list will help me do this and will also provide a sense of accomplish as I start to tick qualifications off the list.

Develop networks
List three things you could do to start building your professional networks.

Having worked in the music industry in Los Angeles for over a decade, I will leverage people I know in the industry who have connections to music marketing to gain introductions to relevant professionals.

I would also take this more traditional approach and attend any industry events I am able to. I strongly believe that the best way to connect and network with people is face to face.

Finally, I will also continue to grow and connect through my LinkedIn profile. This includes ensuring I connect with people that I have met through industry events or through work experience opportunities. I will actively participate by posting on LinkedIn, continue to follow those in the industry and will keep up to date on industry news though the groups I have joined and the newsletters I have subscribed to.